The Black Pine

While mama cried in her summer dress
I stood outside and watched the sky
The magnolia in the yard
The dog under the car
And sweet, sweet melons on the vine.

The sticky road floated by the house
I stood outside and watched the sky
The twisted tire swing
The bobwhite wondering
Shirts sagging on the clothesline.

Floorboards creak and ache
For a true love given freely
But all it does is take and take
Until we each pay dearly.

**

Daddy slammed the door to the sticky house
And stuck a thumb out on the summer road
The sky stayed hazy gray
Nary a breeze all day
One dove sighed in the black pine.

Floorboards creak and ache
for a true love given freely
But all it does is take and take
Until we each pay dearly.

**

The summer dress in the sticky house
Going nowhere on the deadpan road
Horizon heat waved goodbye
I stood and watched the sky
They say Daddy and Jesus'll come back sometime.

The furrows in the field and brow
The fickleness of men and rain
for what is meant by a vow
when no one stays the same?
No one stays the same...
No, nothin' stays the same.